India’s Defence Minister has suggested the leaking of sensitive submarine documents from French shipbuilder DCNS could be the result of overseas hacking.

DCNS, which has also been chosen to build Australia’s $50 billion next generation of submarines, has been rocked by the leak of 20,000 pages of sensitive material relating to a similar project in India.

The Australian newspaper has reported the leaked material includes the entire secret combat capability of the six Scorpene-class submarines the French are building for the Indian Navy.